Democratic candidate Eric Schneiderman gets support from former rivals for attorney general seat

View full sizeMarcus Yam / APDemocratic hopeful Sean Coffey (right) makes a point during a televised debate in New York last week. Eric Schneiderman (left) won the primary to win the Democratic nomination for state attorney general over Coffey, Richard Brodsky (second left), Kathleen Rice (center), and Eric Dinallo.

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York Sen. Eric Schneiderman has won the Democratic nomination for attorney general and now the backing of his four primary rivals in the general election campaign against Republican Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan.

Absent Thursday was an endorsement announcement from Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the Democratic front-runner for governor. “That is something we will address down the road,” Cuomo told reporters.

Their shared ideals include stopping criminals, protecting individuals and seeing government as a means “to level the playing field,” Dinallo said.

“Eric will be a tough, smart advocate for all New Yorkers,” Rice said.

Donovan said Thursday that he has agreed to debate Schneiderman next week. He said there are “stark differences” between them and he noted his experience as a law enforcement officer and Schneiderman’s background as a legislator. Asked about Schneiderman’s challenge to debate approaches to crime on Wall Street, Donovan said: “We’ll fight corruption where corruption is.”

While Rice endorsed Schneiderman, Donovan said he would not endorse Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino, for instance, because the code of ethics for district attorneys prohibits them from making political endorsements.

Rice said later that her endorsement of Schneiderman does not present an ethical conflict because she has no power to investigate him. She said district attorneys routinely debate the ethics of endorsements and it’s up to each to decide.

She said she seldom makes endorsements, adding that she thinks it’s appropriate especially for a race that she was in. “The elected district attorneys are politicians whether they want to say it or not,” she said.

A series of opinions by the State Bar Association Committee on Professional Ethics has concluded that “the duties of a prosecutor are in major respects incompatible with partisan political activity” except their own campaigns. “A prosecuting attorney should not be a member of a committee of a political party or a member of a political club, or campaign for or endorse candidates for public office except for endorsing a successor candidate.”